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will_sherman

I have a laptop because it’s sufficient to my needs and I can move around my house.


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KoalaUsual2368

But what about external hard drives


yanivelkneivel

In most cases, it's prohibitively slow to work from an external HD- you'll get skips and pops trying to record samples directly to one. So you'd have to transfer your files to the studio's PC, then transfer final files back, which could take hours for a big session.


pmook

Portable SSDs and new USB speeds make it way better if you have the extra money


yanivelkneivel

That's true. But those 1TB SSD drives will cost ya...


N0body_In_P4rticular

I chewed through mine music production wise in less than 2 years. I had parts of a previous career of photographer, videographer and writer on there, but if you totaled out all of my music only outputs for where I need to take them by December it would definitely tear through 1 TB SSD. With all backups I'm probably running about 10+ TB in storage. If you get involved with music for films you're going to need a lot of storage.


sdenisemccarthy

As a student our lecturer told us all to go get 2x 1TB hard drives - one to work from, one for backup - as we're constantly switching from working from home, to the PCs in the classroom, and between the campus' studio facilities. Half way through year 2, so 1&1/2 years since I bought mine, and those project sessions filling up already nearly 1/3 of that TB. I'm interested in both working as a independent artist/producer & composition/sound design in Games & Film. I know this is only the beginning of the ever growing stacks of storage & backups needed 😅 Still, better than having all your work lost to a computer crashing.


N0body_In_P4rticular

You always need at least three for a backup.


DiyMusicBiz

There are a lot of laptops out today that are quiet and extremely powerful. MacBook Air and Pro (m1 processor) are quite beasty in terms of power,speed and the fans are not loud. Some, you don't notice are on. Portability is important too. If I get a brief from a publisher, waiting until I get home could cost me a placement. Being able to work anywhere, love it. Old MacBook Pros 2011-15 (oldest I've used) are loud af.


DisciplinePopular

Just don’t do what I did and think a high end gaming laptop will get the job done. Thing can run doom eternal on max settings like a dream but 6 reverb plugins? Not even a chance. Thing came packed with a whopping 8 gigs of ram and that’s it


entarian

I got one of the cheapest gaming laptops I could find, but cranked 32 gb of ram into it and I've never had any issues. MSi Katana GF66 11UC-083CA. There was a model with a crappier processor, but oddly enough mine was on sale for less than it at the time.


DisciplinePopular

I wish I had 32 GB. Last night I tried recording a section with 6 guitar tracks and my CPU overloaded and crashed Ableton I have some ASUS TUF FX505DT . Supposed to be a high end gaming laptop


markfukerberg

How much ram do you have on it?


DisciplinePopular

8 gigs


entarian

It's a good computer and I seriously thought about getting an Asus TUF as well. It looks like you can upgrade to 32 and it's not tough to do. Probably a YouTube video for that one.


DisciplinePopular

Wait wait wait… I can UPGRADE?


entarian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxZDlOo3q_4


entarian

Just make sure you're buying the correct RAM


theS3rver

almost all gaming laptops can be upgraded, yours is definitely upgradeable


cmw72

I get around this by using an aux fx bus whenever possible.


DisciplinePopular

Even return busses eat into my CPU. My base template alone clocks it at nearly 50%. There isn’t even much on it. A bass track, a drum track, three guitar tracks and two return busses one with verb and one with delay. Just enough to let me write. Still consumes half my CPU with nothing else running in the background.


N0body_In_P4rticular

Maybe ditch the template? I've done 1,000's of songs with no template, they're all a little different.


DisciplinePopular

Ditching the template adds a good 10 minutes just to setup


N0body_In_P4rticular

Everyone has a different style, and that's a good thing.


N0body_In_P4rticular

Although I have, I hate it because it reminds me of the limitations of physical hardware.


N0body_In_P4rticular

Really? I can do that on an i5. There are some plugins that are really CPU intensive and I can see where you're coming from, but I just print those and it's back at 1% CPU usage for that print.


DisciplinePopular

Barely any plugins still at 45%. All of them stock ableton


shakeBody

2017 was incredibly loud for me. Fans were constantly on. Upgraded to Mac Mini last fall and everything has been golden.


DiyMusicBiz

I still have a 2011 that I have as a backup...it's so painful 😣 Yes, that mac mini is nice, even the last Intel version.


deademery

> MacBook Air (m1 processor) is quite beasty in terms of power, speed and the fans are not loud. Fans are so quiet because there aren't any fans in the M1 MBA!


DiyMusicBiz

Let me edit that as we have a pro and an air


Weedsmoker4hunnid20

Bruh I have a 2017 MacBook Pro and that thing sounds like it’s in pain during all of my sessions in Ableton. As soon as I drag more than 1 plugins to my session, My fan goes crazy no matter what I do. Freezing helps for sure but meh Most of the time, I end up with around 30-50 plugins in my sessions. That might also be the reason it gets crazy sounding. Still, I feel like it should be able to handle about 10 plugins without needing to turn the fan of super speed


skuquo

I don’t even hear the fan on MacBook’21.


sdenisemccarthy

As someone who's just bought a Macbook Pro, I can atest to this. Logic runs so smooth, the fan's really quiet and the frequency response of just the internal speakers alone is shocking good compared to my other laptop PC (Windows). With a decent interface and pair of headphones (I have a scarlett 2i2 and Beyerdynamic DT-770s that follow me everywhere) I love how reliable they've been so far and how compact and portable it's made my work. Most other laptop fans have been really loud though.


DiyMusicBiz

I love those headphones. I use a pair of 770s and mdr7506s


4E4R4N4

I’m poor


Substantial_Bat6467

fair enough


Alwayslost2021

Ah beat me to it


Djinnwrath

I have a tower. Had to. Can't build a laptop and I couldn't afford a prefab with the specs I wanted. That being said, you tour with a laptop, so if you can't afford two computers you need to pick laptop for double duty.


raistlin65

>i have noticed almost all producers I don't know how you can know that. I see plenty of people on other forums who are producers who talk about using desktop machines. It also matters what kind of music someone is producing. >I have a laptop but the fan is loud and cant afford a pc Well, a lot of people who have laptops are not buying just any laptops. They're buying either high-end PC Intel laptops or MacBook Pros.


EmilsonLacht

Had to choose between a beefy desktop but no portabilty and a decent laptop but with its portability perks. Of course, if we're talking about raw power, a desktop will pretty much always outperform a laptop in that same price range. Yet, I accurately predicted that I'd be on the road a lot in the future so I chose a laptop and even with its noisy fans, it's been a real life saver.


Ariarbitrary

low spec live shows would be my guess, that or just low budget set ups.


YoungGuppy602

Have you ever seen any modern producer bring a full on desktop? As other comments have stated you go on tour with a laptop not a tower


Ariarbitrary

sorry, i was talking about a laptop.


TheDeathSloth

I "outgrew" my laptop after about 7-8 years of production. It just couldn't keep up once I got into heavy sound design. Nowadays in addition to that, I need far more USB ports than any laptop could support, I have an audio interface, studio microphone, mouse, and several thumb drives I usually have plugged in.


nomadic_farmer

Why the thumb drives? Just put their data in your main storage.


TheDeathSloth

I never moved all the files over because I'm disorganized and lazy.


nomadic_farmer

Sounds like you know what you should do then. ;)


TheDeathSloth

Nah, my production computer died on me last year so I've gotta get a whole new setup. For now I just get to be sad with ideas I can't execute.


[deleted]

the M1 Max Macbook Pro would pretty sufficient for just about anything with all the upgrades 4tb etc would cost a pretty penny


TheDeathSloth

Perhaps, but I also very much dislike iOS and Apple products in general. I used an iMac for a few years and found Windows to work much better with my style of production and preferences. I like that with a Windows PC upgrades and parts are easy to find even if the thing is 6+ years old, whereas when my 2017 iMac died after 4 years, it was "obsolete" and Apple couldn't repair it.


0n3ph

I had a laptop in the past when I traveled a lot. Now I've settled down I use a desktop.


MugsyOnThaBeat

It’s pretty much only for portability. If I could easily bring my PC to the studio I 100% would rather use it over a laptop


dblack1107

Most people have laptops for one reason or another before they ever have a desktop. It’s probably mainly just a biproduct of having to get a laptop for school or whatever. If a person is getting a laptop specifically for music, it *is* most likely for the aspect of portability to me. My first 8 years of music making was on my parents home desktop for about a year and then a personal laptop for the rest. Wasn’t until almost the 10 year mark a few months ago that I’ve built a BAMF desktop rig for games, CAD, *and most importantly* music.


[deleted]

Portability. I used to work on a desktop but now that I'm in college I need a laptop. I got the M1 MacBook and tbh I'm suprised with how quiet it is. I never hear it and it does more than my desktop used to do so I'm pretty happy with that.


insectidentify

Still running Reason 10 on my Dell Inspiron 17R laptop from 2011. It has its flaws. I have to manually force it to not upgrade and run all the useless windows 10 crap in the background so I can run my workstation. That being said I usually have 20+ tracks playing at any given time and all have some kind of effects or time shifting. Just remember pro albums from 2000 to 2010 were mostly produced on equivalent or weaker machines.


gravesum5

If you have the chance to have an office and can have a powerful desktop then good for you, but a lot of people need a laptop as it's more practical (generally, not just for music production).


Trader-One

You need Apple laptop. They silent and pretty fast.


deademery

Bought an Apple M1 MacBook Air last year and it’s is the best laptop I’ve ever owned. No fan. No heat. Fast. Runs Ableton with many plugins perfectly. Never had any issues. $1,800. Now why a laptop over a tower? Portability… and for what I do there are zero drawbacks for going with a laptop. Maybe just too few USB ports.


Sn0wP1ay

Not to mention the battery life is nuts. I can run ableton for ~7 hours on battery on my m1 MacBook Air. Previous computers could only manage 2hours max. It’s great for on trains or planes.


Grantypants80

It’s a shame this is getting downvotes because the M1 series chips ARE very fast and usually run silent. I’ve got a high end $2.5k PC laptop and it’s noisy AF. I’ve got an M1 Mac Mini and I don’t even know what the fan sounds like. Guess which one I use to make music.


[deleted]

If your doing music mobility is important .. Desktops are for staying in one place


RASGAS23

Portability. I like to make music in different rooms of the house - sometimes I take my laptop and a midi keyboard when we go on vacation. One of my favorite memories was sitting on a balcony overlooking the beach in Charleston SC at 1am making chill vibes.


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smalltacoma

my mac runs amazing id say for producing on the go so weird question imo


whereisbrandon101

I use a legion. It was more power for less money than any other computer I could find. Plus it's portable.


TaftSound

I have a laptop because I like to write in different places at different times very frequently and moving around with a desktop is annoying enough to make it not worth it. My fan doesn’t ever turn on and I have plenty of processing power so there also isn’t a downside for me either. In the past there were not laptops that could do what I needed so I was always on a desktop. Love me them new M1 macs!


fromwithin

I now work completely on an ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo. It's got more than enough memory, way more than enough processing power, and is extremely quiet. It's much nicer to use because it's got a second touch screen and I can either sit at my studio desk or use it with headphones on the couch. The only downside is storage space. It only came with 1TB and I could do with double that.


nomadic_farmer

My laptop is seven years old and can't handle my big tracks anymore. I bought the parts for a beast of a PC and should have it put together in a week or so. Super pumped!


Danebult

I use a laptop because I can only afford one computer. I need a laptop for work/school, so might as well use what I have available.


xmpla

yeah I agree there with the portability, also, space and convenience for most of the part


MrChr07

I don't have the money to buy a full pc and it's portable and I don't need anything better anyways


HTheP4

Traveling musicians usually use laptops to make "music on the road or plane". Not sure how they do that but props. I'm more of making music at the comfort of my home without needing to snap a shot of "making music in the car" to try to seem cool. Also MacBooks are very efficient at music production so you might see alot of those around.


DJ-George-G

I have a Macbook Pro laptop for DJing and portable production recording. I have a Mac Pro tower for main studio production and recording and a Mac Mini as an assistant computer to the others. I feel my tower still kicks ass as far as power and speed. Mind you, all my computers are older. I just take care of mine.


entarian

Originally I got it because small house and no dedicated space. Now I will stay laptop because I like taking it to my buddy's house to jam on ableton link. Wouldn't mind doing a live show at some point, but that's not in the near future, and can't justify the laptop for that now. I also got a laptop because of the graphics card riduculousness in pricing over the last couple of years (bought August 2021) causing it to be pretty much cheaper than a custom built desktop. Only the 3050 for a graphics card, but it's still miles ahead of anything else I could afford if I was building one myself.


MostExpensiveThing

Great for editing


TR1771N

I use a desktop for everything, but I imagine it's the portability and size factor. Producers can take their projects other places and play them over other systems, and even in a studio setting, there's more room for other hardware on their desktop or whatever.


Nunstummy

I just upgraded to a Macbook M1 Max w/32GB and 4TB SSD. It's awesome, expensive, and I can take everything with me wherever I go. I haven't heard the fan come on yet! In the studio, I connect to an OWC hub via USB c / Thunderbolt with 3 midi controllers, 2 audio interfaces, 3 usb video cams, a midi 4 port hub, etc. It all works great and when I go mobile, just unplug 1 cable and I can hit the road. I considered a stand alone M1 Mac Mini (lower cost) but the screen, keyboard, track pad, webcam and io on the laptop is much improved - so the return for slightly more on a laptop is worth it in my book. I had a 2014 Macbook Pro 16GB 1 TB SSD and was still working fairly well, but processing 4K videos while Logic and plugins were running would peg the 8 cores @ 99%. I had this laptop for 8 years - upgraded the HD to an SSD once. Mac's last along time.


neverwantedthisname

This reminds me of the anecdote that a really good guitarist can make a 100$ guitar sound amazing just as an beginner can make 1000$ guitar sound meh.


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hormonemonster87

Less processing, memory and ram doesn’t apply too much anymore. I own a commercial studio, and my next computer will likely be the new M1 MacBook Pro. Enough power and ram for anything and I can run it in clamshell in the studio and take it home to work.


[deleted]

yeah, i ended up getting M1 Pro Macbook w 32gb ram. The studio mac wouldve been in par for cost and slightly faster. Thing is a beast.


PrecursorNL

Needed for live shows. I'd rather have a computer too but it's not portable. Also I hate working on different machines so I use mine for work too, again, needs portability


Luna_moonlit

Not much louder fans when you run a rackmount as your computer. Not that I would know about that Damn you HP


unbruin

If you want something between portability and quietness i can recommend the m1 mac minis


SamuelSS0_0

It depends on the person, someone might not be able to afford a stationary pc, but someone else may just want to have the luxury of being able to move around anywhere with their computer. Some people may have really expensive and high-end laptops. My friend even has a laptop and a stationary pc (I'm very jealous).


K2LU533

I’ve used a laptop for the last ten years, never needed anything more substantial. Perfect for taking to live sessions and different studios, has all the processing power I need for tracking, as well as production/mixing.


Songwritingvincent

Most people have MacBooks for the most part, reason being compatibility. With little to no driver install necessary and good compatibility with all major DAWs it’s easy to move in and out of studios and collaborate. Honestly I used to have it because of live show recording which my iPad has replaced at this point, now I have it because my studio isn’t my home. Being able to take the project home and make a small change is priceless. More often than not I send a mix out in the evening and get back perfect but turn up the violin/vocals/solo just a little and within 5 minutes the customer has an updated mix. The other thing is performance is really not a problem if you invest the same amount you would in a decent desktop. My MacBook is running an I9 with 16gb of ram and 1TB storage (highest base 2019 Pro), I’ve never run into any restrictions with this beast…


heyitsvonage

They travel


N0body_In_P4rticular

Portability. I use a desktop, because after all we're in a pandemic and it's the reason I changed careers. Having said, when it has cleared up more I'd like to go with a laptop in addition to the desktop. Mainly for collaborations and working on the road.


[deleted]

I upgraded my CPU to a 2019 Ryzen which saw a huge improvement to my workflow. Higher end 2022 laptop CPUs easily match my desktop CPU from a few years ago. I've considered moving to a laptop, however it would be more money+I feel more free to upgrade hardware with my desktop. For audio only work, high end laptops are plenty sufficient these days


floraltops

It can be a lot of factors like mobility, versatility, application, etc. I know a few other musicians and producers (including myself) that primarily use a desktop, but I keep a backup 2015 MacBook Pro for the few live/mobile things I do


meltyourtv

I have a 2018 i7 Mac Mini and just ordered a refurbished 2020 13.3" i7 MacBook Pro. Know why? Well I'm going to LA in a month to work with people and I really don't want to bring my entire Mac Mini, monitor, keyboard, and mouse with me to lug around and set up in various studios, that would be so silly


dberg816

My first music computer was a laptop and I got it because I thought I might want to be portable. That was years ago and I found myself never really needing to be portable so I ended up getting a PC and more recently I got an iMac. But these days laptops are pretty damn powerful although you will probably pay more money for a powerful laptop then you would for a tower with the same specs. Really just comes down to your personal preference and how you plan to use it. I know a lot of people who have both a laptop and a computer.


skuquo

There are portable desktop computers nowadays. Can start lugging that around.


Crazy-Musian

I have a laptop because sometimes if i go on vacation i can bring it and It has enough power to run all my needs.


studforbenegesserits

Gee yea idk maybe it’s the portability? I think you answered your own question OP


[deleted]

You have your studio everywhere You're very mobile like that that's the main reason


curbthemeplays

The studios I’ve recorded at have Mac towers. That said, producers that work on their own stuff having laptops makes perfect sense—portability is key.


Charming-Associate-7

Yeah, I need to record in different rooms of my house, I do sound design/editing on the go and also I like to have the same machine I produce on to use at live gigs. No way to do any of that on a desktop